Notes From The Front

Friday, June 11, 2010

Bobblehead: Reacting To Rejection

Rejection.

It's an ugly word. Anger, sorrow, frustration, abandonment, loss, and discouragement are all conveyed by rejection. It's probably one of the most difficult things anyone can face.

And it's a non-stop part of a writer's life.

I've been getting a lot of rejections lately. In my personal life they've been coming thick and fast, but more importantly, I'm being rejected in my writing life.

This summer is the first time I'm actively pursuing publication. I've been playing around with it since 2007, but this year I've turned my hard-headed stubborn persistence to GetPublishedOrDieTrying. Two of my novels are sitting on editor's desks, waiting for the final verdict. The third (last year's NaNo novel SS-5) I've been sending out to agents since early April. I've probably sent it to close to 30 agents so far. Most have gotten back to me within a week with politely worded rejections, some form, some personal. I've gotten to the end of my list of “probabilities”. I'm mopping up the “possibilities” and, gritting my teeth, now moving into the “you've-got-to-be-crazy-to-think-they'll-accept-it” bracket.

Am I discouraged? You better believe it.

Am I giving up? Not on your life.

Writers are suckers for punishment. They have the toughest skins on the planet – it's a survival thing. I watched a kid playing with a bobblehead doll the other day, and suddenly the image of a writer came to mind: the kid's poking finger was the rejections, and the doll who (stupidly, stubbornly, without fail) bobbed back up to take more punishment was the writer. I ended up doubled over laughing, clutching my purse, making futile, laughter-limp gestures, to the consternation of store employees. (try to explain a metaphor like THAT to a Wal-Mart clerk)

So no, I'm not giving up. Neither are the multitude of fellow writers close to me who have been handed out some pretty crushing rejections these past few months. Yet a couple of them have come to me, exhausted and frustrated, wondering if there's really a good reason for pushing on. Maybe there's something wrong with the novel. Maybe it really sucks. Maybe it will never get published. I might as well not send it out anymore.

I wince every time I hear it, because it echoes my thoughts so perfectly. The truth, though, is that it's a terrible time for novelists. What with the economy and the growing commercialism of the publishing industry, it's incredibly hard for new writers to break in. But it's not a reason to give up. I've a few friends who consistently remind me that the right person for my novels is out there. I just have to find them.

And that's what it comes down to. Don't give up. Don't let the rejections stop you from sending out your novel (or short story, or poem, or article) again and again and again. If your work sits at home, buried in some dusty drawer or cobwebby corner of cyberspace, it's 100% sure that no one will accept it. If it's out there, knocking on doors, there's a chance.

So that's where I stand. I'm the bobble-head doll who, after getting hit with three rejections before breakfast, turns right around and sends out five new queries before lunch. It helps, in a bizarre way. Maybe it's all about faith. Maybe it's believing enough in your dreams and your writing to keep throwing it out there.

Whatever the case, I do have faith that sooner or later, it'll all be worth it and my manuscript will land on the right person's desk, at the right time of day, with the right weather outside and the right cup of coffee nearby and... you get the picture. :)

Don't give up. Don't get discouraged. Somewhere out there the right person (and the right desk, and the right time of day, etc) is waiting. You just have to find them.

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How do you deal with rejection? Share all the crazy ways you cope with this hard aspect of a writer's life. Have you gotten a particularly crushing rejection lately? Go ahead and vent. Or perhaps you've gotten some really good news! Share the encouragement!

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Write Note - Music and Writing

There's no obvious connection between writing fiction and music. Writing is primarily mental, and making music engages the physical body as much as it does the brain. The connection...?

Any writer who's used music to help them write knows the answer. Because writing primarily engages the brain, it's a constant battle for writers to choose the right words to evoke sensual, physical reactions. Music, famous for its physical effect on people, helps writers “make music” with their words and create prose that explodes into life.

Listening to music, whether instrumentals (such as soundtracks – brilliant for writing!) or vocals, doesn't just set the mood and inspire, it actually can improve the prose by weaving in themes, threads, and subtle variations the writer couldn't achieve with silence.

Just the other day I discussed this with someone and they wanted to know how music could affect the writing itself. Certainly it could affect the writer, but how could the intangible essence of the music get into the words?

“Don't look at me,” I said, “I haven't a clue! All that I know is that it does.” Perhaps it has something to do with the subconscious. A psychologist could theorize, but as writers we don't need to know why music works for us, we just need to believe and let the music sing through our fingers into the words.

One of the most dramatic times music has affected my writing happened when my cowriter and I were editing our WWII novel A Fire Is Woken. I was working on the first romantic climax, the scene where the two main characters (FINALLY!!) admit they love each other. Sentimental, happy sigh kind of stuff was how the outline shaped the scene. A satisfying ending, a calm and happy oasis in a rather turbulent sea.

How boring! The first rule of good writing is keep the reader turning the pages! What a disaster to have the reader, halfway through the novel, put the book down with a satisfied smile thinking they'd reached the happily-ever-after?

No, of course that wouldn't do. But one week and a bout of pneumonia later, my aching head couldn't come up with a solution. Finally, I decided “Oh to heck with this, I'll just write it,” turned on some writing music and dove in. The scene played out as outlined. No conflict, no tension. I sighed, muttered, kicked by chair away from the keyboard and stared up at the ceiling in despair. And then... I realized this song was playing on repeat, tinkling, sunshine-y music. Romantic sweeps and trills of exultation. Just like the scene.

Then beneath the surface I heard the background: dull low notes, ebb and flow, almost reaching a crescendo, then sinking back below the surface, hidden but not gone.

An idea started to tingle on the edge of my brain. I sat there for a second, held my breath, then flew back to the keyboard. My fingers couldn't fly fast enough as the scene played out in my mind.

The end result? The scene is romantic, and satisfying on the surface. But below the outward happiness, there's a strong undercurrent of trouble. The reader can feel the trouble ahead; not blatantly, but as a subtle shiver...they know there's a heck of a lot more book to come. The one comment we get consistantly about the scene is that the readers are unable to put it down. They can't wait to find out what happens next – because they know something will.

That never would have happened without music. The odd part is, I don't know where that piece comes from. It exists on my computer simply as “Track 01”. But somehow, in a mysterious way, that piece inspired and saturated me enough with its message that I was able to pass that mystery, that apprehension onto black and white, paper and ink.

Pretty amazing, huh?

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What are some instances music has drastically changed your writing? What sort of music inspires you?

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Note: this post is part of AbsoluteWrite's May blog chain! Below are links to the other participants in this enticing endeavor!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Words From The Wise - Writing Quotes!

Today, instead of an article on writing, I decided instead to do something fun and post some of my favorite writing quotes. (Oh all right, yes, it's a lazy cop-out, but it'll hopefully provoke a few chuckles, and that's just what the doctor ordered, eh?)

So here are a few of the writing quotes I have plastered over my notebooks and walls and in the margins of my REFUSED file. Enjoy!

“Most writers enjoy two periods of happiness—when a glorious idea comes to mind, and when a last page has been written and you haven't had time to know how much better it ought to be.” ~~ J. B. Priestly

“A writer lives in a state of astonishment.” ~~ William Sansom

“It's nervous work. The state that you need to write in is the state that others are paying large sums to get rid of.” ~~ Shirley Hazzard

“My books happen. They tend to blast in from nowhere, seize me by the throat, and howl 'Write me! Write me now!' But they rarely stand still long enough for me to see what and who they are, before they hurtle away again. And so I spend a lot of time running after them, like a thrown rider after an escaped horse, saying 'Wait for me! Wait for me!' and waving my notebook in the air.” ~~ Robin McKinley

“If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise. Attack it at an hour when it isn't expecting it.” ~~ HG Wells

“I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.” ~~ Peter de Vries

“Sometimes I think my writing sounds like I walked out of the room and left the typewriter running.” ~~ Gene Fowler

“I can look at my books with pleasure from a distance. Four feet is close enough.” ~~ Jim Bishop

It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous. ~~Robert Benchley

“My stories run up and bite me on the leg—I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish the idea lets go and runs off.” ~~ Ray Bradbury

“There is no way that writers can be tamed and rendered civilized or even cured...the only solution known to science is to provide the patient with an isolation room where he can endure the acute stages in private and where food can be poked to him with a stick. If you disturb the patient at such time, he may break into tears or become violent.” ~~ Robert Heinlein

“A book is like a quarrel. One word leads to another, and may erupt in blood or print, irrevocably.” ~~ Will and Ariel Durant

“Computers will have to learn that when I quote from some old author who spelled differently from the machine, the wishes of the long-dead author will have to be respected, and the machine will have to mind its manners.” ~~ Robertson Davies

“Sir, perhaps the lack of literary inventiveness in modern opening lines is due to the effect of the word processor. When I ran the first line of Moby Dick through my spell-checker, it suggested changing it to 'Call me Fishmeal'.” ~~ Helen Grayson

"Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good." ~~ Anonymous

“I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.” ~~ Peter de Vries

When I'm not in the mood for laughing, I read these two quotes – they sum up beautifully the need for perseverance in writing, and the assurance that if you just keep WRITING, sooner or later you will achieve your dreams.

A writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view, a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway. ~~ Junot Diaz

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.” ~~ Richard Bach

And for a final chuckle... :D

“Coleridge was a drug addict. Poe was an alcoholic. Marlowe was killed by a man whom he was treacherously trying to stab. Pope took money to keep a woman's name out of a satire then wrote a piece so that she could still be recognized anyhow. Chatterton killed himself. Byron was accused of incest. Do you still want to a writer--and if so, why?” ~~ Bennett Cerf

Saturday, April 24, 2010

So Much To Do – No Time At All!

Guess what? I'm still alive! I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, relapsed into pneumonia, or run away to join the FBI. However, I've been feeling a bit Dorothy-ish – as if a tornado had whirled through my life, spun me off my feet, and dropped me in a whole new world.

Since the last post, I have (a) moved, (b) acquired – or will soon – a new job and (c) started a new novel. :D As well as a host of other things which have kept me in a permanent tailspin! What with two jobs, a possible publishing contract (at least one!) and actually sheltering in the same domicle as my best friend/co-writer, the summer's going to be mad. Beautifully mad, but crazy is crazy any way you slice it.

Writing stays at the top of my priority list, though, and in the next few weeks I'm going to post updates about my newest novels. I'm guessing my actual writing time is going to get cut down, but in a way that's a good thing: right now editing and stepping up the publishing endeavor is more important.

As for the writing itself – NaNo taught me how powerful writing a little bit, just a little bit, every day is. Those five hundred words per day add up. I think, as well, it's the physical act of writing, the concentration of your thoughts into words, that keeps you fresh. I know I'm never happy until I've written!

In matter of actual quantity - we'll see what happens as the days grow warmer... and in case anyone didn't notice, aren't we having a BEAUTIFUL SPRING?!?!

In the meantime – sorry for disappearing and please bear with me as I get back into a regular posting schedule! Next post will be a collection of the funniest, wisest, and most uplifting quotes on writing, so be sure to check back in a couple of days.

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What are you doing for the summer? Starting a new job? Heading out on vacation? How are you fitting your writing schedule around the warm weather, or is your typewriter tucked away in cotton till the leaves turn?

Monday, March 29, 2010

Write Your Synopsis - And Stay Sane!

How hard can it be to summarize your novel in about 700 well-chosen words? Sounds simple, eh? But as anyone who's tried it knows, those 700 words can cause terrible grief, precipitate nervous breakdowns, hair loss, and murderous mood swings—and in some cases, take longer to write than the whole 100,000-word novel did!

If there is one thing the diverse writing world agrees on, it's that being captured by headhunters is preferable to writing a synopsis. Stephen King said the best thing about success was that he'd never have to write a synopsis again.

...since most of us are a ways from being the next Stephen King, what are some ways to dull the agony and turn out something that makes agents claw each others eyes out to get their hands on the book?

A method I recently discovered is the chapter summary: take each chapter of the novel and summarize it in one or two sentences. You'll end up with about 25-40 sentences, which may not make any sense, but it'll give you an idea of the novel's skeleton. The next step is to flesh out the skeleton. This method works well for plot-heavy novels, because it forces you to get down to the core ideas of your book.

Example: (from my novel SS-5)

(chapter 1) Birthday plans. Father leaves for the army. (chapter 2) Nazis invade. Holland surrenders. Father goes missing.

...and the final version...

It's May, 1940 and war rumbles across the European countryside, yet Jan Jonkheer believes it couldn't possibly touch the safety of neutral Holland. Jan's father, who has faced the truth and knows Hitler is coming, breaks his promise to stay with his family and joins Holland's army on the eve of his son's fourteenth birthday.

Jan, betrayed and angry, wakes on his birthday morning to the crash of bombs and the drums of war. Hitler's armies have invaded Holland. Within twenty-four hours, the tiny Dutch army is conquered and Jan knows he has lost his father forever.

Another method is to use the character outline. Select the three or four characters who drive the novel, and write a paragraph for each describing who they are at the beginning, what happens to make them change, and who they become at the end. Then take a couple of paragraphs to summarize how the characters interact, the conflict and the resolution, and you're done. The character outline works particularly well for literary novels and character-driven novels where the characters are central. Randy Ingersoll, creator of the Snowflake method of novelwriting, says agents/editors love character outlines.

Example: (from my novel Through A Rain Of Fire)

Flight Lieutenant Peter Standish is the best pilot in his squadron. He's engaged to a beautiful girl, and they've planned a wonderful future. Peter thinks he is unstoppable: until the day he goes down in flames. His body burned beyond recognition, his world in ashes, Peter Standish fights to find a reason to live.

Growing up in a sheltered, loving family, Julie Knight never knew how bad life could get. Abandoned for dead after a tragic train wreck, the seventeen-year-old hides in the shadows as her city is bombed to ruins. Locked behind the prison walls of a London orphanage, alone without friends or family, she struggles for hope of survival.

One more helpful tip is not to worry about word count. (Do that while writing the synopsis and your risk of insanity triples.) Use the chapter outline or the character sketch—or something else entirely—and just write. At the end, if you're short words, you can fill with description or added information. If you're too long, set it aside for a couple of days and then cut. It's amazing how many unnecessary words we use! (Look at this blog, for example...)

A final comforting thought is that, sooner or later, you won't have to write synopses anymore. You'll either be a bestselling author – or you'll have gone insane. :)

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Are you a super-synopsis-writer? What are some tricks you use? Have you ever tried the chapter outline or the character sketch?

Thursday, March 25, 2010

It “Was” Horrible – and ways to make it better!

It's a nasty word. It drives editors to distraction, causes agents to go into anaphylactic shock, and writing mentors to slosh red ink around like blood. From the moment we start to write, we hear “NEVER USE WAS!”

However, they rarely say why. And even rarer do they give advice on how to fix it! But the solution to “was-less” prose is actually quite simple. In this post, I'll give some pointers showing how to replace it!

First, though: Why is “was” wrong? Well, because it's passive. It's the quickie way of saying something, and it makes the writing sound lazy. “She was angry” is much less exciting than “Her teeth gritted and her fists bulged in her pockets.”

Despite the taboos, “was” is still a perfectly good word, and in some cases, it belongs. But chances are you use it too much, just like 99.9% of all writers. The good news is that it's surprisingly easy to get rid of!

Here are a few common “was” phrases I've seen. Below each, I've rewritten the sentence to get rid of “was.”

The floor was cold under his bare feet.
His bare toes curled against the cold floor.

She was too tired to keep her eyes open.
Exhaustion dizzied her and her eyes drooped shut.

The sun was warm on his face.
Rays of sunshine beat down, hot on his face.

The food was spicy.
Heat tingled through his mouth as he ate the food.

Notice how much more powerful and interesting the rewrites are than the original sentence? Grammatically, there's nothing at all wrong with the originals, but by replacing “was” with active verbs, the impact of the writing takes a giant leap for the better. It's a subtle trick, but it guarantees a better piece of writing—and it guarantees editors and agents won't react to your work like it was poison ivy!

It's actually simple to find replacements for “was,” especially on an edit. (I often let the word fall where it may when I'm churning out a scene, and go back and replace them later.) Try it yourself – go through your own writing and find seven or eight “was” sentences, and rewrite them using active verbs and sentence structure. Do it on a regular basis, and pretty soon it'll become second nature!

One warning – don't try to replace “was” in dialogue. Like it or not, we murder grammar when we talk, and if you try to make all dialogue perfect writing, it'll sound stilted.

And don't forget, there are some places that definitely merit a “was.” If you think you've got a place where the word works, go with it! Just like any other rule, this one can be broken successfully.
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What are some of the strategies YOU employ to avoid using “was”?

Friday, March 19, 2010

Awards - Oh My!

This lovely award was given to me by Elisabeth (elisabethscorner.blogspot.com) and I am (belately) accepting it with much thanks!!!

Now, this award apparently comes with a few rules. They are:

1. Tell you seven things you don't know about me

2. Name seven other blogs to receive this award

3. Leave a comment on the other blogs I have nominated letting them know that I have given them an award.

4. Thank the blog that gave you the award!

Seven things who doesn't know about me? ;) Seven things NO ONE knows about me is about seven things more than I want to share with the general world at large. But let's see what odd facts I can dig up.

1. I love Dorothy Sayers, and Lord Peter would be my favorite detective of all time - except Father Brown squeezed in for first.

2. My favorite food is spaghetti and I have been known to eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

3. If I could have a magical talent I would want to be able to breathe underwater.

4. If I changed my name I'd be "Katherine".

5. I believe reading P.G. Wodehouse should be mandatory - to maintain a healthy level of insanity.

6. If I weren't a writer I'd be a trauma surgeon or a third-word paramedic.

7. All of the above information has been falsified, especially this paragraph. ;)

And now to spread this madness across the web.... I am presenting this award to:

Ruth

Becky

Mitzi

Kayla

Aisely

Nona

Blanche Rose

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